What Brothers Are For
by Moonsetta
Summary: A song-fic. I can't really think of a summary for this, so you'll just have to read it for yourself. -


I made this little fic as a kind of literal lay out to the slideshow I made on youtube. Check out my profile for the link to my channel. I find the slideshow very touching or at least the song.

Anyways, here's the story. Note: I really had no idea what I was typing!

Song: Brothers By: Dean Brody

I don't own TMNT.

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The house was like a tomb.

I was hiding in my room

As my brother made his way on down the hall.

Don glared as his computer and then at his hands when they wouldn't start typing. He glanced up at the wall and scowled at the picture hanging there. Him and all his brothers were sitting at their kitchen table and Mikey had his face covered with cake. The thought of the youngest turtle's last birthday almost made him smile but then he heard footsteps coming down the hall. He sat stoutly in his chair and stared at the computer screen, determined to not turn around and look at his brother when he glanced inside the genius turtle's room.

There was a sigh and the visitor turned back to the hallway, making his way to the main room. Don let his head drop and let a few tears escape his eyes, watching as they fell onto the keyboard. He listened until the footsteps disappeared into the main room.

_I didn't want to say goodbye_

_And I was trying to deny there was a war,_

_And that he got the call._

Raph growled and glared at the weights he was lifting in his room. He was murmuring words of denial and was silently hoping for a miracle, something that would take the order back. The note itself was resting on a small crate in front of him since his brother wouldn't need it. The red masked turtle was denying the truth, because he just couldn't believe it. War…

Just imagining him out there, fighting those demons made the hotheaded turtle tremble. Their sensei had shared the views of the last war with them all. The truth floated among the air around the lair, whoever fought wouldn't survive the war. Raph tried to deny reality again, his brother couldn't be going. He wouldn't survive.

_I watched him from my window_

_Walking down the drive._

Don wiped the tears from his face and scrambled to his feet, rushing to his doorway. Just before he reached the door he watched as a green and orange blur flew by. He watched with envy as his youngest brother ran into the main room, throwing his arms around their oldest brother.

_Then I ran down the stairway_

_Through the front door and I cried_

Mikey buried his head in Leo's shoulder and cried out.

"You can't go Leo, you can't!"

Leo smiled patiently and wrapped his baby brother in a hug, "Mikey, I'm sorry, I have to."

_You come back you hear?_

_And I let him see my tears_

_I said I'll give you my rookie of DiMaggio._

_I'll do anything you want,_

_Clean your room, or wash your car._

_I'll do anything so long as you don't go _

_But he said, this is what brothers are for._

Leo stepped away from Mikey and headed towards the door.

"Leo wait!" a new voice called out.

Leo turned only to get surprised by a tackling hug from his immediate younger brother.

"Raph," he gasped in shock.

"Don't go, please, you can't go."

"I have to," Leo said sternly but hugged back, "The Ninja Tribunal said-"

"I don't care what they said!" Raph yelled pulling away.

Leo's jaw dropped in shock. Raph was crying!

"Can't they get someone else? Isn't there anything we can do!"

"Sorry Raph, but this is what brothers are for," Leo said, turned away and slipped out the door.

_Well I have my heroes,_

_But the one I love the most_

_Taught me how to hunt and swing a bat._

Mikey whimpered while leaning against the wall of the main room while watching the unmoving door to their home. He held a small sketch pad in his hands. Every day, he would stand here for a good hour…and wait. It had been six months and Leo still wasn't home. As moisture built behind his eyes he reached up and hastily wiped the tears away before they could run down his face. He looked down at the sketch pad and opened to the first page. The first picture was of what he could remember of his eldest brother before the news had come to them.

Don sniffed and desperately wiped at his eyes. He couldn't believe he hadn't even said goodbye before Leo left. He had tried to distract himself with his projects but his thoughts always returned to the fact that the lair was too quiet. The purple masked turtle sighed heavily, trying to control his emotions as he made his way into the dojo. He took out his bo and started on a kata but soon memories shrouded his mind. He knew he was the worst ninja of them all but Leo had always helped him when he needed it. Even without his sensei's disappointed glances, he knew he was falling behind Raph and Mikey.

_And I wrote him every night,_

_I said I miss our pillow fights,_

_But lately I just wonder where you're at._

Mikey smiled at the letter in his hands, Leo had finally written back!

**Hey, Mikey. I must say I'm kind of overwhelmed, you Don, Raph and Master Splinter have written to me every day. Well, the fighting's continuing although most attacks from these spiritual demons are fought on the spiritual plane, they've yet to manifest into the physical. Oh, I probably should've said that to Don. Well, to put it simply, they haven't attacked the tribunal and I for real, just in our minds and spirits. I'm not sure how long this will take, but I'll come home as soon as I can. With all the training and spiritual preparations it's hard to find time and energy to write back. You think the training before was hard, wait until they take you on as an apprentice. I'll try to write back as much as I can, once at least every few months. Well, I better get some rest before my midnight training. Good luck back in New York, and Mikey, make sure you keep them smiling.**

_**~Leo**_

Mikey laughed and hugged the letter close as a few tears slipped from his eyes

_Sometimes freedom makes it hard to live._

_When it takes things from you that you don't want to give._

Raph growled and his fist quickly connected with a brick. Another letter and one of last things they had wanted to hear.

M.I.A.

They were fighting on the astral plane! How could he be gone! Just like that! Raph forced his eyes to open and he glared down at the ground. He stood like that for three minutes, letting the rain run down his face, a few drops circling the curve of his head and running into his eyes. Then, he collapsed to his knees. He knew the truth, how dare those Foot Mystics come back! They should've seen it! Someone should have seen it! They weren't sure how they returned to the physical world but Leo was gone and Raph knew who was to blame. They should've been there with him! They were meant to fight as a team.

The battle on the astral plane was risky enough but a physical encounter? According to Don's statistics Leo's chances of returning had plummeted from 35% to 4%.

Raph choked back a sob and lifted his hand up where he entangled his fingers in the blue mask tied around his arm. He didn't want lose his older brother.

_I said you come back you hear?_

_I miss you being near._

_Laugh and fish down in the maple grove_

The three turtles all sat in silence. One year since they had last gotten a letter from their older brother. A year and six months since he had left for that war. Don was constantly tightening and retightening one of the screws on a remote control while Mikey was completely focused on his sketch book. Looking away from them, Raph let his mind get lost in memories. The few times he had actually spent time with Leo before Mikey pulled him off to listen to a story, or before Don dragged him away to help him solve a problem, or before their sensei rallied him into the dojo for training.

_I'll do anything you want._

_There must be someone I can call,_

_And just maybe they would let you come back home_

_But he wrote, this is what brothers are for._

Hope seemed dead around the place the mutants used to call home. They couldn't deny that the dojo was too quiet. All of them agreed that they missed the sounds of katanas slashing through the air during the early mornings and evenings. Raph had fallen into denial and Don had to admit that he wasn't far behind. He always thought that there was something he could've done, if he could've made contact with the ninja tribunal and said something, then maybe Leo would be-

The purple masked turtle shook his head and sighed. He was prepared to call it a night extremely early when his shellcell rung. He sighed again heavily and picked it up.

"Don, thank goodness, you guys have to get up here," April said in a rushed voice.

"Ok, we're on our way," Don said.

They all nearly fell over in shock, there was a letter.

**I'm alive. I'm sorry, but it's difficult to write with the injuries. I'll just say, I love you all. Don't worry, I hope to be home soon.**

**~Leonardo**

Mikey shouted in glee as Don finished reading the short letter and Raph wasn't ashamed to show his tears this time. They all jumped to their feet and embraced each other in a large group hug. Leo was alive! And was hopefully coming home really soon.

_I may never have to face the anger of those guns,_

_Or lie cold and wounded in my blood,_

_Or know the sacrifice and what it must of cost_

_For him to love me that much._

"Do you think he'll tell us what it was like?" Mikey asked as he slouched down onto one of their couches.

For a second Mikey allowed his imagination to fly, was Leo daily surrounded by dark figures real or not with weapons ready to turn him into nothing but a fried turtle on a stick?

Don had a similar but darker line of thoughts. In Leo's last letter he said he was injured and couldn't write much. How severely was he injured? Would he be ok? Where did they find him? A certain picture of his eldest brother lying in a pool of his own blood filled the purple masked turtle's mind and made him shiver.

Raph scowled at the surrounding tension and left the main room, ducking into his own bedroom. He listened as the TV came on and the sound of typing filled the main room. He locked his door and glanced around his room, the usual debris littered the floor but his eyes landed on a part of the wall. He had never revealed to the others that there was a secret compartment in his room. He pushed the small, thin, stone away and pulled out a small shoebox from the darkness. He stilled for a moment, ensuring no one would know and lifted the top of the box before carefully slipping out a picture.

It was a few years old, but it was still a prized possession. It had been Raph's birthday and when April had showed him this picture he knew he wanted to keep it. The red and blue masked turtles had fought a lot, but they were close. Closer than they were to their other brothers. He held the picture close.

"Come home bro, be safe."

_Well, it had been two years,_

_And I held back my tears_

_When I saw him in that wheel chair on the shore._

It was about six months later that a sudden stirring in the back of his head made Raph wake up earlier than usual. He tried going back to sleep but felt unusually restless, so he climbed to his feet and walked out into the hallway. Murmuring told him that his baby brother was still asleep and he would've checked on his purple masked brother but a certain voice made him freeze.

"Leonardo," the voice of Splinter gasped.

Raph's heart jumped to his throat and he flew to the front room to see his older brother, but at the sight, he had to hold back his tears. There was Leo, sitting in their living room, alive but in a wheelchair. The question of how it came to be was answered as Raph caught the sight of April and Casey walking out the door. As for Splinter, he had his arms wrapped around his eldest son, their faces buried in each other's shoulder, and tears falling from the elderly rat's eyes.

"Leo," Raph whispered loudly.

_And as I ran and held him tight,_

_That's when he looked me in the eye_

_And said I'm sorry that you have to push me home_

_And I said hey, this is what brothers are for._

Splinter stepped away as Leo met Raph's eyes. Before the blue masked turtle could say anything though, he found Raph by his side, his arms wrapped tightly around him. Leo smiled and hugged his younger brother back. The red masked turtle pulled back and glanced down at the brother he was used to looking up to.

"Sorry you have to push me around now," Leo said, glancing shamefully at the floor.

Raph smiled and walked around to grab the handles on the chair, "Hey, this is what brothers are for."

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I found this song so touching. I just had to make that slideshow and type this. It's so touching. Ok, I'm happy to just write this thing, so I don't mind if you don't want to bother reviewing. Well, have a wonderful day everyone and just let me say, people with siblings are truly blessed, I'm jealous of them all.

~Moonsetta


End file.
